Tourists visiting Zakopane might want to take out holiday health insurance

The ambulance service in Zakopane ceased to work yesterday, as the doctors, unpaid for four months, resigned. "The situation is dramatic. I have nobody to man the ambulances," said the nervous director of the local hospital Zbigniew Podsiadło, who can now only rely on volunteers from the Tatra Mountain Rescue Service (TOPR). The hospital is indebted to the tune of zł. 14 million and has lost its financial liquidity, particularly as National Health Fund has failed to pay it for supplementary medical treatment for tourists visiting the area. Worse still, is that no improvement may be expected as richer regional offices of NFZ, that have the most popular hospitals in the area, are now demanding more money to treat the "migrating" patients. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A4) M.K.